The Superman Aquaman Hour of Adventure

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The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure was a Filmation animated series that aired on CBS from 1967 to 1968. Premiering on September 9 1967, this 60-minute program included a series of six-minute adventures featuring various DC Comics superheroes.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Continuation 3 Influence 4 Episodes 4.1 Aquaman (and Aqualad) 4.2 Guest stars 4.3 Superboy 4.4 Superman 5 DVD release

Overview

Each episode consisted of new segments from the existing series, The New Adventures of Superman and The Adventures of Superboy, as well as outings for Aquaman and his sidekick Aqualad. From the point of view of Superman fans, it is generally regarded as the second season of The New Adventures. Fans of Aquaman see it as the premiere season of Aquaman. As a part of The New Adventures, it is notable for containing some of the final work done by Bud Collyer, the voice actor who had originated the roles of Superman and Clark Kent on radio.

It also included a rotating series of 'guest star' cartoons featuring the Atom, the Flash and Kid Flash, the Green Lantern, Hawkman and new shorts from The Adventures of Superboy. The Justice League of America (Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Superman) and Teen Titans (Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Aqualad) were also featured in team adventures.

Many of the shorts were penned and script-edited by DC Comics employees. Bob Haney and George Kashdan — the writing-editing team who were then producing the original version of the Teen Titans comic book — were prolific on the series, taking on nearly all the "guest star" cartoons. Mort Weisinger, editor of all Superman comic titles during the 1960s, served as script editor for the shorts featuring Kal-El. This use of comic writers on the television series tended to make them "a very faithful adaption to the comic book mythos". Even so, there were some elements which were novel to the cartoons — such as secondary characters in the Hawkman, Green Lantern and Atom shorts. Likewise there were occasional omissions, like Robin's complete absence from the Teen Titans shorts.

This series marked the animation debut of nearly all of its featured characters and teams. The exceptions were Superman and his supporting cast, who had been previously immortalized in the iconic 1940s Superman shorts (and later in the The New Adventures of Superman), and the Superboy characters, seen in the previous season of The Adventures of Superboy.

Continuation

In 1968, the show's three main components were again divided amongst other shows. New Superman/Superboy segments were moved to the The Batman Superman Hour. Meanwhile, new Aquaman shorts aired as a part of Aquaman, a 30-minute version which also provided a home for further cartoons featuring characters drawn from the wider DC Universe.

Influence

The show continued to evolve a narrative format that had been started with the original Superman radio show. Specifically, it featured a narrator who served to both compress and dramatize the storytelling. Whereas the first season of The New Adventures of Superman had featured longtime radio narrator, Jackson Beck, Superman/Aquaman was the first to feature actor Ted Knight, who had made his Filmation debut as Perry White late in the previous season of The New Adventures. He would become the main voice used in the narration of DC cartoons for over a decade. He remained the unofficial "voice of DC" even when the cartoons were being produced by Hanna Barbara under the Super Friends banner.

Episodes

Aquaman (and Aqualad)

Cast (voice)

• Marvin Miller   as   Aquaman
• Jerry Dexter   as   Aqualad
• Diana Maddox   as   Mera / Queen Vassa
• Ted Knight   as   Imp / Tusky / Black Manta / Various Villains / Narrator

Adventures

Thirty-six Aquaman segments were produced:

Menace of the Black Manta The Rampaging Reptile-Men The Return Of Nepto The Fiery Invaders Sea Raiders War Of The Water Worlds The Volcanic Monster The Crimson Monster From The Pink Pool The Ice Dragon The Deadly Drillers Vassa, Queen Of The Mermen The Microscopic Monsters

The Onslaught Of The Octomen Treacherous Is The Torpedoman The Satanic Saturnians The Brain, The Brave And The Bold Where Lurks the Fisherman! Mephisto's Marine Marauders The Trio Of Terror The Torp, The Magneto And The Claw Goliaths Of The Deep-Sea Gorge The Sinister Sea Scamp The Devil Fish The Sea Scavengers

In Captain Cuda's Clutches The Mirror-Man From Planet Imago The Sea Sorcerer The Sea-Snares Of Captain Sly The Undersea Trojan Horse The Vicious Villainy Of Vassa Programmed For Destruction The War Of The Quatix And The Bimphars The Stickmen Of Stygia Three Wishes To Trouble The Silver Sphere To Catch A Fisherman

Guest stars

Cast (voice)

• Pat Harrington, Jr   as   Atom/Speedy (in Teen Titans segments)
• Cliff Owens   as   The Flash
• Tommy Cook   as   Kid Flash
• Gerald Mohr   as   Green Lantern
• Paul Frees   as   Kairo
• Vic Perrin   as   Hawkman
• Bud Collyer   as   Superman (in Justice League segments)
• Jerry Dexter   as   Aqualad
• Julie Bennett   as   Wonder Girl

The Atom Invasion of the Beetle-Men The Plant Master The House of Doom The Flash (and Kid Flash) The Chemo-Creature Take a Giant Step To Catch a Blue Bolt Green Lantern Evil is as Evil Does The Vanishing World Sirena, Empress of Evil

Hawkman Peril from Pluto A Visit to Venus The Twenty Third Dimension Justice League of America Between Two Armies Target Earth Bad Day on Black Mountain Teen Titans The Monster Machine The Space Beast Round-Up Operation: Rescue

Superboy

See The Adventures of Superboy ~ Season 2

Superman

See The New Adventures of Superman ~ Season 2

DVD release

Aquaman episodes can currently be seen as part of Cartoon Network's Boomerang. In 1985, Warner Home Video released eight selected Aquaman episodes of the series on VHS in the "Super Powers" video collection, along with Batman, Superboy and Superman. These videos were rereleased in 1996 and are out of print. On October 23 2007, Warner Home Video released The Adventures of Aquaman: The Complete Collection on DVD in Region 1; the 2-disc set features all 36 Aquaman segments from the series, as well as special features.

Warner Video also released DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures on August 12, 2008. The double DVD set features 18 cartoons starring Hawkman, Green Lantern, Flash, Atom, the Teen Titans, and the Justice League.